


Foreign Land

by Darth_Cannizard



Category: Joyeux Noël | Merry Christmas (2005)
Genre: Fate & Destiny, Horstebert, M/M, World War I
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28657071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darth_Cannizard/pseuds/Darth_Cannizard
Summary: The Indian Army has joined the forces on the British side and is now fighting the Germans on the Western Front. This is the story of an Indian soldier.
Relationships: Lt Audebert/Lt Horstmayer (Joyeux Noël)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Foreign Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SamSparks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamSparks/gifts).



He is a noble gentleman of India, a sophisticated man, a kind man, a fierce man, even a valiant one depending on the circumstances.

The Indian Army has joined the forces on the British side and is now fighting the Germans on the Western Front.

In itself he knows nothing about the country from which the enemies of England come. He doesn't really know what this war is about either. It's just a war, the way wars are, just a little bigger than the wars before. He doesn't even want to know exactly what it's about, he just wants to survive, kill as few other people as possible and then go home again. He's only here because his family thinks he's no good. He did not want to study medicine or law, although he is absolutely brilliant and although he had been promised a scholarship at a prestigious university in England. Instead he started studying literature, because this was important to him.

_Literature?!_ said his family. You can have literature when you write us letters from the front and then they volunteered him for military service.

Saumya Dwivedi experiences contempt and condescension from the English because of his nationality, because he is a gentle and calm person, because of his beard and his long hair, which is gathered in a bun on his head. From the few who treat him with respect, he gets some regard, but no friendship, no affection.

During a rather small battle, he is captured by a german unit. The commanding officer, Oberleutnant Karl Horstmayer, needs a batman. Someone who makes him a decent dish, who takes care of making his bed, keeps his uniform clean, keeps his dugout tidy. And also someone, Saumya discovers after a while, who talks to him about non-war things. Karl, as Saumya is allowed to call him when they are alone, asks him about India: what's the weather like? How is the food? Has he ever seen a real tiger in his natural habitat? How are the Indian women? Do all Indian men look as good as Saumya?

To his amazement, he is treated well. He gets the same food as everyone, he is not yelled at or pushed around. The nice soldier with an unpronounceable name, whose smile is very broad and who loves cats, becomes his friend. As does Karl.

Horstmayer's unit changes position as the British have lost land. During the relocation, which takes place at night, they move through an only halfway destroyed forest area. At some point Saumya is suddenly grabbed and pushed into a bush. “Stay here,” whispers Karl, “your people are not far from here” and gives him brief instructions on how to find them.

In the following battle they meet again. They sit together in a water-filled bomb hole for 2 days. The funnel is too deep to get out of there alone. When they already think that they have been forgotten, that no one will ever find them and that they will become corpses, like those swimming in the murky water of the funnel, a scattered German unit appears.

Horstmayer lets him go.

Saumya leaves with a crucial tactical information about the next battle the German deliberate gave him.

He receives a medal for this because his knowledge enables him to save other soldiers from a trap and to contribute a little to the victory of the British Empire.

And then Saumya can finally go home. He is welcomed in his village with a big feast. The girl he loved since forever, the girl who always loved him, the one who is beautiful, kind, wise like him and who was to be married off by her family to the stupid and disgusting but rich Rajesh, will marry him now.

Saumya often thinks of the noble and kind gentleman of Germany, of his friend Karl, whom fate had chosen several times to cross their paths.

*

During these 2 days in the bomb crater they have talked about everything.

“Is there someone in your life? Someone special?”asks Saumya Karl after telling him about the woman he loves but will never marry.

The German smiles a little wistfully. "Yes. But he's French. A French officer, you know? I don't even know if I'll ever see him again. He's so beautiful, elegant, educated, he's an artist…” He pauses for a moment. "He's a gentle person and I love him very much," he adds quietly.

The Indian thinks for a while. “We met several times, you and I, because fate wanted it that way. So if your love is strong enough and the gods want it that way, then you will meet him again."

Horstmayer sighs. "Then I hope that the gods have mercy on me."

*

And while Saumya lies in bed at night and is awake, his beloved wife at his side, he often thinks of Karl and how his destiny was in the end. He hopes it was a good fate, he hopes his friend Karl met his beloved french enemy again and he often prays for this to happen.

**Author's Note:**

> There is a really big article on the english Wikipedia about the Indian Army in the Great War. 
> 
> I was somehow envisioning the indian soldier from “1917” while writing this story. 
> 
> The title Foreign Land is a song by Eskimo Joe.


End file.
